Naruto’s P.O.V

            I leisurely walked up to my apartment door, bewildered. Where was she? She was never late. And as my personal medic, it was her duty to be at my doorstep after my return from a mission to heal any injuries I may have, insignificant or not. And she wasn’t here. As soon as I walked in, all confusion left me, and was replaced with relief as I immediately sensed her chakra within my small home. That is, until I saw her. Her extravagant emerald eyes were red and puffy, and from what I could tell, still damp from her tears.  And black smudges could be seen around her eyes from where her mascara had smeared. Pink hair was ruffled and messy, unlike the neat and kempt tresses that I was used to seeing. Her shoulders were trembling slightly, her legs to her side, and her hands were flat on the floor, supporting her weight so she could sit up, making her delicate figure look more innocent than it ever had.
            “Sakura,” I purred gently as I approached her dazed and disoriented form. I kneeled down and lightly put my palm against her makeup stained cheek, awakening her from her trance.
            “Oh! Gomen nasai Naruto-kun, I’ll get started right away!” she quickly got up as she wiped the remaining tears from her face and started to walk off towards her medical supplies, her shoulders still wavering and the tears still streaming noiselessly down her face.
            “Sakura,” I said her name once again, more gently than the last, stood up, and softly grabbed her arm before the she could go any further. She stopped, relaxed a bit, but did not look at me; instead, she kept her gaze on the russet colored carpet that lay beneath our feet. “Wanna talk about it?” I asked just as sweetly as I moved closer to her.
            “It’s stupid,” she replied as she took her free arm and quietly wiped more stray tears from her rosy cheeks.
             I sighed and wrapped my arms around her waist. “It’s not stupid if it’s making you cry.” I nuzzled my face into the nape of her neck, and tenderly kissed her collarbone. “Now come tell me what’s bugging you.” All I got in reply was a slight nod, and I let go of her so she could follow me to the burgundy couch I had positioned in the middle of the living room. Immediately after she sat down, I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her forehead.
             “Naruto,” she whispered in an inaudible voice. “Why am I so pathetic?” she continued to stare at the floor.
             “What are you talking about Sakura?” I asked, still gentle with my voice.
             “I’m clumsy, my luck with guys is zero, I can’t even go out in public without getting dirty looks from almost everyone in the village, and…and,” she started crying again.
             “Shh, shh” I stroked her hair gently. “I don’t think you’re pathetic at all. You’re an intelligent, wonderful, beautiful girl. Not only that, but also my best friend!” I added with a grin. “Don’t worry, everything will get better.” I cooed softly into her ear. After awhile, she calmed down and nestled closer into my chest. I quickly let go of her and removed my forehead protector, letting my spiky blonde locks fall slightly, and my black and orange shirt, revealing a small black muscle shirt underneath. I re-wrapped my arms around her waist, and rocked her gently. After a few minutes, she finally stopped shaking.
             “Naruto?” she said in a nervous tone as she looked up into my cerulean eyes, her emerald ones searching for something. “Will you kiss me?”
             “Wha-? Are you alright Sakura?” I put my hand to her forehead, no fever. What was up with her today?
             “If you didn’t want to kiss-…” I cut her off; if she was going to persist, then I’ll be damned if I didn’t take this chance. So, I kissed her. Our lips crashed together, I put all the passion I had saved up over the years into it, and she loved it.  I moved my hand to the back of her neck while she ran her fingers through my golden hair, and lowered her down onto the couch so that she was on her back, and I was on top. My lips moved roughly against hers, down to her neck, and then- someone was knocking on the door.
             “Fuck.” I mumbled into her silky skin before getting up and opening the door, leaving her on the couch, bemused.
             What a surprise. God, he had perfect timing. “What do you want Sasuke? I’m kinda in the middle of something.” I said, rubbing my temples in annoyance, a habit I had picked up from Granny-Tsunade. He was in his normal Uchiha pose; hand in his pockets and slouching. He was looking around, examining my apartment, as if it were his first time here. Then he finally looked at me, scowling.
             “I know Sakura’s here; I need a favor from her.” He kept a straight face as he pushed me aside and walked into the house, already knowing exactly where she was. Annoyed, I followed him to the couch, and stood there, waiting.
             “Sakura.” She sat up. “I need a favor of you.” I tried to hold back a smile as she tilted her head to the side, like a puppy, a cute gesture that got me every time.
             “Sure Sasuke, anything.” She said with more enthusiasm than necessary, wiping the grin from my face and replacing it with a glare.
             “I’m needed on an important assassination mission to lightning country, and I need someone to pose as my wife so we look like an ordinary couple on a trip. And if it were you, you would double as a medic for me.” He paused, studied her expression, and continued. “It would take up to four months at maximum, are you up for it?” Her eyes lit up, and she nodded her head so fast that I thought it might fall off. “Alright, we leave tomorrow at four a.m. I’ll meet you at Konoha gates.” He got up and left without another word.
             “Do you want me to walk you home?” I asked with a bit of a sour tone as soon as Sasuke was gone.
             She gave me a weird look. “I don’t want to go home.” She got off the couch and embraced me in a gentle hug. “I want to stay here with you.” I had to smile; she was so adorable when she was clingy like this.  I returned her hug and set my chin on top of her head.
             “But don’t you have to pack for your mission with,” the name made me cringe. “Sasuke?” she held me tighter.
             “I can do that later tonight.” She whimpered.
I sighed. “But Sakura, you need your sleep.” I picked her up, sat down on the couch, and set her on my lap, her arms still tight around me, and her head still buried in my chest.
             “Narutooooo.” She whined as she lifted her head to stare at me, a pleading look on her face.
             “Okay, fine. I’ll make you a deal. We go over to your house now and pack, and then you can come and stay here for the night. Deal?” she gave me a defeated look.
             “Fine, let’s go.” We walked out of the apartment, and after having a five minute argument with her about whether I should carry her or not, I finally gave in and lifted her onto my back. When we arrived at her house, I set her down and she immediately opened the door and dashed upstairs to her bedroom. I waited patiently on her couch for a few minutes until she called me upstairs. I walked slowly up to her small room, wondering what she wanted. No sooner than when I entered the room, she started talking.
             “What kind of clothes should I pack?” she held up a couple shirts. “I want to look like a wife, but I don’t know what to wear for that kind of scenario.” She then set the two shirts on the bed and started digging through her drawers again.
             “Don’t worry about it. Just dress normally.” I walked over to her bed and sat down. “The only thing you have to do is act like a wife, you know,” oh god, I can’t believe I’m about to give Sakura advice on how to act like Sasuke’s wife. “Like, give him pecks on the cheek and lips, smile a lot, hold onto his hand, stuff like that.” I hoped she couldn’t detect the disgust in my voice as well as I could. “Act like you do when you’re with me.” I smiled at the thought of her pretending that Sasuke was me. She nodded her head, and then confusion was once again legible in her expression.
              “But what should I wear?” she asked impatiently. I groaned.
              “Just grab some clothes and pack them! It doesn’t matter how you look!” I calmed down when I saw the hurt expression on her face. “You’re already beautiful.” She smiled her brilliant smile, and her cheeks turned a cherry red.  


              “’bout time you woke up!” I rubbed my eyes and yawned. I glanced around the room, noticing that I had fallen asleep on Sakura’s bed while she was packing. She was kneeling beside me; head tilted to the side, and a faint smile was traced on her luscious lips.
              “How long was I asleep?” I asked groggily.  
              “Hmm, about two hours.” I quickly sat up and looked at the clock; 7:23 p.m. We had left my apartment at 5.
              “You women take forever to pack.” I hopped off the bed, grabbed her duffel bag, lifted her onto my back, and started walking back to my apartment without even asking if she was ready to leave. We had only been out of her house for five minutes and I could already tell that she was bored; her right elbow was resting on my shoulder, while her fingers ran mindlessly through my hair, and I could hear her sigh constantly. “Don’t worry Sakura, we’re almost there.” I said, hoping to cheer her up.
             “I’m not worried about that.” She then took both her arms and wrapped them around my neck lightly, and set her head on top of mine. Now I knew something was wrong. “What if Sasuke doesn’t want me acting like his wife though?” she was whining again.
              “Then he wouldn’t have asked you to go on this mission and pose as his wife. He would’ve asked someone else.” I felt her nod her head, and she was quiet the rest of the way there. I walked into my apartment, and after realizing that Sakura had fallen asleep on the way here, set her on my bed, and pulled the black and orange comforter partially over her angelic figure. I gazed at her in awe. Her neck-length cherry blossom hair lay in strands across her porcelain face, concealing her closed emerald eyes, and her large breasts rose and fell in even breaths. “She’s so beautiful.” I whispered to myself as I walked away to go put on my navy blue pajama pants and a black tee-shirt. I picked up my clothes and threw them in a laundry basket I had placed in one of the corners of my room and crawled into the queen sized bed that Sakura was currently sleeping in. I grabbed my alarm-clock and set the wake up time for 3 a.m., and kissed Sakura on her forehead before rolling over and drifting off to sleep.

Sakura’s P.O.V

             Beep, beep, beep. “Ung.” I covered my ears. “Five more minutes.” I exhaled sleepily as I rolled onto my back.
            “Sakura.” I felt someone put their hand on my shoulder. “Time to wake up. It’s 3 and you have to get ready for your mission.” I recognized the voice as Naruto’s as soon as consciousness kicked in. I grabbed the warm blanket and pulled it over my head, and no sooner than I did, Naruto pulled it back off.
            “Uh-uh.” I pulled the blanket over my head once more, and instead of Naruto pulling it off again, he sat on me. “Ungh!” My eyes shot open as I felt him land on my stomach. “Get off me!” I huffed before trying to push him off. No luck. But because I’m so stubborn like that, I kept trying. He only chuckled.
            “I’ll get off, but you have to get up, okay?” I nodded my head, and to my relief, he got up. I inhaled deeply and sat up. I gave him a dirty look and then my arms went up into the air and a large yawn escaped me. I slowly climbed out of bed, stretching more as I did so. As soon as I was standing, Naruto enclosed me in a tight hug and kissed me on the cheek before handing me my duffel bag. “Now go get ready.” I started walking, Naruto beside me with his hand on my hip, making his way to the kitchen no doubt. He let go of me and walked over to the refrigerator and started digging around for breakfast while I turned down the hall and went into the bathroom to shower and change. I removed my clothes and opened the shower door. Shit. I opened the bathroom door slightly and called down the hall for Naruto.
            “Yeah?” he called back.
            “Can you come show me how to work your shower?” I asked him as he came walking down the hall.
            “Sure Sakura.” He smiled and was now only a few feet from the bathroom door. I looked down. Fuck, I had forgotten that I was still naked. Too late. He pushed open the door, and his eyes instantly traced every detail of my body.
            “I’m sorry!” I grabbed a towel from the shelf and wrapped it around my unclothed body as soon as the shock wore off. He shook his head and took a deep breath. I wasn’t aware of how red my face was, but his turned an even deeper shade of scarlet when he saw me look down. My eyes widened in shock, and we both turned around at the same time. “Awkward.” I mumbled after a couple minutes of silence had passed.
            “Sorry, Sakura.” He whispered. Our backs were pressed against each other, and the tension was growing. I twiddled my thumbs, waiting for him to say something else. Nothing.
            “It’s alright, you can’t help it.”  I turned back toward the shower and removed my towel, no longer caring whether he saw me naked or not. “So, uh, how do you work this thing?” he tried his hardest not to look at me as he walked over to the shower.
            “Well,” he started, his face still a crimson color. “This dial says ‘hot’ but it’s actually the cold water, and vise-versa.” I nodded, but didn’t miss the lack of eye contact he had with me. He closed the shower door and walked out when I started the water. I took a short ten minute shower so I wouldn’t be late, and went into the kitchen for breakfast after I was dressed. Naruto blushed and looked down when he saw me glance at him, and I continued to eat my breakfast in silence. It only took me a few minutes to devour the homemade French-toast, so I decided to try and bring up some conversation when I finished.
            “So,” I started, making sure he made eye contact with me. He did. “I guess I won’t see you for awhile.” Even though I thrilled about this particular mission, I was still really going to miss Naruto. He nodded his head slowly in response, and looked down again.
             “Yeah,” he said quietly. “I’m gonna miss you Sakura.” He got out of his chair and embraced me in yet another hug. “Have fun.” Naruto gave me a quick peck on the lips.
             “And Naruto,” A smile spread across my face. “Maybe when I get back from this mission, we can try that whole dating thing.” His face lit up and he looked like a small boy on Christmas morning. I giggled. “I should probably go.” I said after looking at the clock he had in the dining room; 3:53 a.m. He only nodded his head and walked me to the door. I waved him goodbye and started to walk away.
             “Wait! Sakura!” I turned around and looked at him. “Be careful…He may be Sasuke, but he is still a man.” He smiled and closed the door, probably knowing that I had caught the meaning of his unexpected words. Useless, he was wasting his breath. I mean, Sasuke accepts me as a person, but really, that would never happen. I was supposed to be posing as his wife, not getting in bed with him and going all out as a wife would. Besides, Sasuke would by no means go for that, at all. As I made my way to Konoha gates, my mind started wandering about the mission that I was about to start. When I caught sight of the raven haired man, I immediately shook the inappropriate thoughts from my mind.
             “Hi Sasuke!” I ran up to his slouching figure, my loose white tank top flowing as I sprinted through the dark streets. His eyes examined my body. “Is something wrong?” I asked as soon as I approached him.
             “You don’t look much like a wife.” He stated coldly, his usual scowl in place. After a moment, he turned around and started making his way out of the village. I quickly caught up with him.
             “All of my good clothes are in my bag,” he glanced at me, and then kept looking ahead. “I didn’t feel like traveling all the way to lightning country in a skirt.”
             “It never would’ve stopped you when we were genin.” He mumbled under his breath, thinking I couldn’t hear. “What a waste of space.” What that supposed to mean?
             “When we were genin that was my ninja outfit and I was too much of a girl back then.” I glanced in his direction and ogled at Sasuke’s perfection when I thought he couldn’t see me, wondering why on Earth he had asked someone so plain as me (in comparison to him that is) to do this mission. But, I only stared at him more, admiring his unique style. His outfit had changed dramatically in the past 6 years; he usually wore a white, blue, or black button-up top with the Uchiha symbol sewn nicely on the back, and some dark slacks. Today he was wearing a black top, and some brown trousers that were much lighter in comparison to the black shirt he had on, and the black shorts that I was currently wearing. But his ever famous posture hadn’t changed at all.
              “If you were a girl back then, what are you now?” again with the mumbling.
              “Well, for the next couple of months, your wife.” I replied, trying to sound less enthusiastic about it than I had the previous day. It was quiet for awhile, and every now and then I would see him glance at me.
And then out of nowhere he started talking.
              “I brought some of my mother’s old clothes for you to wear.” He still didn’t look at me, but waited for my reaction just the same.
              “I already brought some nice skirts and tops, so why would I need to wear your mother’s clothes?” I asked, obviously more than confused.
              “Because,” he was definitely getting impatient with me, and we hadn’t even been out of the village for more than 10 minutes. “Her clothes have the Uchiha symbol on them, and if you’re going to be posing as my wife, then we need to be wearing the same clan symbol.” I could hear him sigh. “And take that leaf headband off, we’re supposed to be disguised as a couple, not a couple of ninja.” He added with a bitter tone. I gave him a dirty look and removed my beloved Leaf Village headband before stuffing it into my too-full duffel bag, and even added an immature ‘hmph’. I heard him sigh again. “Stop moping, I would’ve thought that you of all people would be happy about this mission, no matter what.” Another ‘hmph’ escaped me.
              “Well if you weren’t so grouchy all the time, then maybe I would be!” I snapped and started to walk ahead.
              “You’re annoying.” He added, clearly wanting me to hear. I turned around and was close enough to Sasuke to kiss him, would’ve kissed him, had I been in a flirty mood.
              “Then why the hell did you ask me to go on this damn mission with you if I’m so annoying?!” I yelled, accidentally scaring away a flock of birds that had been resting in a nearby tree. His expression was annoyed; a scowl in place and his brow was furrowed. He groaned, but it sounded more like a growl to me.
              “I already told you,” he stated. “You’d double as a medic.” I hinted a minor snarl in his tone.
              “I’m not the only female medic in the village you know!” God, why did he have to mess with me this early in the morning? “So what’s the real reason? Why did you ask me to come with you?!” he glared at me for a moment, and then pushed me aside and walked ahead without giving me an answer. “Sasuke!” he didn’t turn around, and continued to ignore me. “Fine! If you aren’t going to make this mission at least partially tolerable, I’m leaving!” as soon as I turned around, he was right there in front of me.
              “No. You’re not going anywhere.” I gasped in surprise as he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. I gave up; he wasn’t going to tell me no matter what I did. Damn.
              “You aren’t going to tell me, are you?” the only reply I got was his usual ‘hn’. “’hn’? Is that all you can say?” I asked, mocking him. “The least you could do is talk to me.” His grip on my legs tightened.
              “There’s nothing to talk about.” I heard the impatience growing in his voice.
              “How about the mission? You could give me a few more details about it.” I stated, trying to sound a bit nicer; I didn’t feel like fighting with him anymore.
              “What do you want to know?” the irritation in his voice was still legible, but it sounded like he was trying to calm down as well.
              “Well, who are you assassinating? Where are we going to stay? What names will we be going by? I mean, we’re both very well known people, and I think they’d catch on quickly.” I finished, giving him a couple things to think about. He answered almost immediately.
              “I’m targeting a group of rogue ninja who have been causing some trouble around the area.” His voice was normal now. “And there’s a five star hotel not to far from their hideout, and the Hokage gave us enough money to stay there. We will be going by the names of Kessaku and Ume Nazaraga, a wealthy married couple taking a short vacation to lightning country.” He was running now, obviously tired of going slow. The sun was starting to come up, and a stunning orange and pink sunrise was visible through the dimly lit green leaves of the surrounding trees that passed us as we hurried on.
             “Ugh! Sasuke, your shoulder is digging into my abdomen and all the blood is rushing to my head. If you’re going to carry me could you at least make it a bit more comfortable?” he stopped, set me down, took my duffel bag, and picked me up bridal style before he started running at full speed through the forest once again. “Thanks.” I mumbled quietly, my cheeks turning a slight shade of crimson.
             It felt like the hours were crawling by, probably because there hadn’t been any conversation since I had asked him about the mission, 3 and a half long hours ago. And I felt myself drifting in and out of consciousness as the silence between us grew. Finally my eyes gave up and I drifted into darkness. I woke with a start as the wind was knocked out of me when I hit the hard ground with a thud. I looked up and saw Sasuke kneeling over me. “Damn.” He mumbled and looked at my baffled expression. “Sorry, I tripped.” He looked around and studied our surroundings. I was still dumbstruck and trying to catch my breath, and didn’t even notice how dark it was. “I guess we can camp here for the night.” I looked at him again, perplexed.
             “Wait, camp? For the night?” I sat up. “We only left a few hours ago.” He shook his head and chuckled.
             “We left Konoha 15 hours ago Sakura. You’ve been asleep for 12 of those hours.” My eyes widened in surprise, and then something else hit me.
             “Um, Sasuke?” I asked quietly. He was now setting up his tent. And I stayed put.
             “Hn?” he rarely looked at me when I talked to him, so I couldn’t even tell if he was listening or not.
             “I, uh…didn’t know that we would be camping, and I didn’t pack a sleeping bag or a tent.” I said guiltily. He stopped, sighed, and threw a sleeping bag my way; I caught it and looked back up at him. “But what about you?” he turned around, a smirk visible on his face.
            “I learned to always pack a second sleeping bag because in our genin days the dobe would always forget his. So I have one of my own.” I nodded my head and started unrolling my sleeping bag on the ground in front of me. When I was done, I climbed in and lay down. My eyes traveled along the midnight sky, gazing at the mass of stars. A couple minutes later, I had the feeling of being watched, so I raised my head, but only saw Sasuke standing against a large tree, staring at me intently. “You know, it’s warmer in the tent.” He was scowling, and that was normal, but that’s not something I expected him to say. I shook my head.
            “It’s your tent.” He shrugged his shoulders and continued watching me. I only rolled onto my side and tried to fall asleep.
             I groaned as I moved over and hit something large that I’m sure wasn’t there before. Too lazy to open my eyes, I put my hand on the big object, it was warm. After discovering the new source of heat, I moved both of my arms to the warmth, and lay my head on it. But something wasn’t right, it was moving. I blinked my eyes sleepily and looked down, Sasuke. My newly discovered source of heat was Sasuke. I looked up, no sky. The damn jerk had brought me into the tent with him. “What’s wrong with you?!” I yelled, waking him up. “I told you I was fine where I was!” he sat up and sighed.
            “Sakura, you’re in a tank top and shorts in the middle of November.” He began sleepily. “You’re fingers and lips were turning blue, and the last thing I needed was for you to get hypothermia. You needed heat.” I glared at him through the darkness.
            “You never would’ve done this for me 6 years ago!” I snapped, wondering what he was up to.
            “6 years ago you were still sharing a tent with Kakashi.” He growled back. My face turned red. “And six years ago you weren’t as tolerable as you are now.” He added.
            “What’s that supposed to mean?” I was growing frustrated.
            “It means you don’t try to pull shit with me anymore,” he started. “And I know that if I did something like this, you would accept it as help from a teammate and not flirting like you would’ve back then.” He was good at making me feel like a selfish idiot.
            “I’m sorry.” I was too tired to fight, and I could tell that he was too. I lie down and fell back into a deep sleep. The light coming in through the walls of the tent woke me up, and I wasn’t surprised to find myself in a rather different position; my head was on Sasuke’s chest, and my arms were around his neck. “Mmm.” I inhaled his marvelous scent, and closed my eyes again.
            “Well you seem to be enjoying this more than you were last night.” I felt the blood rush to my face, and I quickly let go of him and gasped in shock when he grabbed my wrists and sat up. “Tell me something.” I felt my face grow to a scarlet color as he looked at me. “Why is it that you act like you have no interest in me when I’m around you or awake, but when you think I’m not looking, you go all goo-goo eyed again?” It took me a moment to answer.
            “Because,” I started. “I thought that if you knew I still liked you, then you would treat me the same way you did when we were genin.” He dropped my wrists, but I didn’t move. He looked me in the eye, and for that split second, I saw a hint of guilt flash across his onyx eyes.
            “Back then, there were only two things that could make me happy; power, and revenge.” I fidgeted, suddenly uncomfortable. “I was cold and mean, and I refused to love in fear that if I was to get too attached, my brother would kill them. But now Itachi is dead, and I’m trying to become the person I was before my clan was slaughtered; kind…and loving.” Considering how touchy this particular subject was for him, he didn’t seem unwilling to talk about it at all. I watched as he moved his hands under his chin before he started speaking again. “That’s why,” he began, now looking me in the eye. “I brought you on this mission. I thought that I should start with the person I’ve hurt the most.” For that moment, I was more surprised than I had been in awhile; he never broke eye contact with me. “Sakura, I’m sorry.” I just stared at him in awe, observing the sincere look he held in his eyes.
            “S-Sasuke-kun.”  I muttered quietly, trying to recover from the disbelief that I felt.